Kournikova Topples Davenport
April 10, 1999 - 0:0
AMELIA ISLAND, Florida Russian Anna Kournikova scored a surprisingly easy 6-4 6-1 victory over top-seeded world number two Lindsay Davenport on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships. It took just 54 minutes for the 16th-ranked Kournikova, who reached the finals at Hilton Head last week before losing to Martina Hingis, to dispose of the 22-year-old American. Kournikova broke Davenport's serve in the 10th game to win the first set and had no trouble finishing off the match, pumping her right fist and saying `yes!' after winning the last point.
When you beat number two in the world, you should be happy, said Kournikova. I feel better and better with every match. I'm playing well and serving great. My goal is just to keep doing that and if that happens, the ranking and everything else will come with it. This is an important victory for me. I haven't beaten a top, top player in some time.
This gives me a good feeling. It was Kournikova's biggest win since knocking off Hingis last May 6-3 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the German Open. It also avenged a 7-5 6-3 loss to Davenport in their last meeting at the 1998 Bausch & Lomb quarterfinals. Kournikova next faces sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, a 7-5 6-2 winner over Argentina's Ines Gorrochategui. Davenport, who is still bothered by a left wrist injury that forced her to default a quarterfinal match to Steffi Graf two weeks ago at the Lipton championships, lost four consecutive games after going up 2-1 in the first set.
Even after she got back on serve at 5-4, Davenport made too many unforced errors and was never able to get back into the match. Anna was very consistent, a lot more patient, waiting for the right shots, Davenport said. Sometimes when you don't feel comfortable, you press too much. I just didn't feel like I could do as much with the ball with my left wrist.
She was playing my backhand a lot, which was probably very smart. Unlike Davenport, most of the other top seeds had little trouble advancing to the quarters. American Monica Seles, the second seed, blew past France's Alexandra Fusai 6-0 6-1. Fifth-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa eliminated 14th seed Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-1 7-5. (Reuter)
When you beat number two in the world, you should be happy, said Kournikova. I feel better and better with every match. I'm playing well and serving great. My goal is just to keep doing that and if that happens, the ranking and everything else will come with it. This is an important victory for me. I haven't beaten a top, top player in some time.
This gives me a good feeling. It was Kournikova's biggest win since knocking off Hingis last May 6-3 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the German Open. It also avenged a 7-5 6-3 loss to Davenport in their last meeting at the 1998 Bausch & Lomb quarterfinals. Kournikova next faces sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, a 7-5 6-2 winner over Argentina's Ines Gorrochategui. Davenport, who is still bothered by a left wrist injury that forced her to default a quarterfinal match to Steffi Graf two weeks ago at the Lipton championships, lost four consecutive games after going up 2-1 in the first set.
Even after she got back on serve at 5-4, Davenport made too many unforced errors and was never able to get back into the match. Anna was very consistent, a lot more patient, waiting for the right shots, Davenport said. Sometimes when you don't feel comfortable, you press too much. I just didn't feel like I could do as much with the ball with my left wrist.
She was playing my backhand a lot, which was probably very smart. Unlike Davenport, most of the other top seeds had little trouble advancing to the quarters. American Monica Seles, the second seed, blew past France's Alexandra Fusai 6-0 6-1. Fifth-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa eliminated 14th seed Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-1 7-5. (Reuter)